Headset Announces $2.5 Million In Financing; Ramps Up Services to Cannabis Clients

SEATTLE, Jan. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Headset, Inc., a leading retail analytics firm for cannabis-related businesses, announced today it has closed $2.5 million in financing as it ramps up its sophisticated suite of data products.

Hypur Ventures, a leading-edge venture capital fund headquartered in Arizona, and Salveo Capital, a Chicago-based private-equity fund specializing in cannabis sector investments, have partnered with Headset to provide a deeper, richer set of tools for the emerging market.

"With this most recent fundraising, we are excited to be able to accelerate development and  adoption of Headset products across all legal cannabis markets," said Cy Scott, co-founder and CEO. "Headset is well positioned to help the cannabis industry make more informed business decisions supported by retail transaction data."

As the cannabis industry matures -- eight states now have legalized recreational use and another 29 have medical marijuana programs -- business intelligence is the key differentiator among successful and failing enterprises. Legal U.S. cannabis sales skyrocketed 17 percent to $5.4 billion in 2015. Most analysts forecast 25 percent compound annual growth in the next five years, expanding to market to 21.8 billion by 2020. As a comparison, this explosive industry growth curve mimics that of the cable TV business in the 1990s, which enjoyed a 19 percent annual growth and the broadband internet industry of the 2000s (29 percent).

For years, cannabis company's struggled to tap into this revenue stream, suffering from a lack of actionable data insights that would inform business decisions. Headset, with its proprietary analytics, gives clients the information and tools to grow their business. 

"Headset specializes in seeing ahead of the curve in terms of trends and innovation in the hyper-competitive cannabis market," said Hypur Managing Director Christopher Male. "There's a lot of synergy with the ecosystem of the Hypur Ventures portfolio." 

"Salveo Capital is excited to be partnered with Headset and its team," said Managing Partner Michael Gruber. "Actionable data is critical to running a successful business, and Headset is empowering brands, product manufacturers, and retailers with insights not available previously.  Headset's products will be a critical tool to a cannabis company's success."  

With the $2.5 million infusion, Headset moves into 2017 in a strong position to help businesses as the new legal landscape expands. It will help close the information gap that has hampered companies in this emerging industry. 

For more information or to request a free demo of the Headset platform please visit www.headset.io

About Headset
Headset provides customized business intelligence for the cannabis industry. Its clients receive up-to-the-minute data -- sales trends, emerging sectors, hot products, and more -- that help make business decisions Headset's proprietary data set helps clients identify new areas of opportunity, keep tabs on the competition, and tailor product development to reflect actual, real-time consumer data. Headset delivers a seamless user experience, making it a platform clients use with ease and simplicity, not the steep learning curves common with other business software.

About Hypur Ventures
Hypur Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on investing in businesses that provide leading-edge solutions to the complex challenges facing this fast-growing market, leveraging each other's strengths for strong returns while revolutionizing the cannabis industry.

About Salveo Capital
Salveo Capital is a private equity fund dedicated to supporting high growth businesses supporting the legal cannabis ecosystem, with a focus on companies across a few sectors: information, data & analytics; financial payments & services; medical products, formulations & delivery; ag-tech & grow systems; and business services.  

SOURCE Headset